PBA slaps Arwind Santos with P200-k fine over ‘monkey gesture’ at Terrence Jones
San Miguel Beer veteran Arwind Santos was slapped with a P200,000 fine and 100 hours of community service for his racial slur against TNT import Terrence Jones.
Santos was caught on camera making a monkey gesture towards Jones in the second quarter of Game 5 of the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals on Wednesday.
PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial apologized to Jones and his family, as well as the fans of TNT and the league, for the incident.
"Walang lugar ang racial discrimination sa basketball at sports in general at sa PBA in particular," Marcial said in a press release. "Ang PBA at [sic] tahanan para sa lahat, bukas para sa lahat at walang kinikilalang kulay, lahi o paniniwala."
Santos initially defended his actions, but he issued a public apology on Thursday after getting summoned to the Commissioner's office.
"I don't mean anything bad for you [Jones], I hope you forgive me. I wanna say sorry again," Santos said in a video posted on his Twitter account.
— arwind santos (@arwindsotnas) August 15, 2019
The SMB forward also asked for forgiveness from the fans of the PBA, San Miguel, and TNT.
"Sa lahat po ng mga nasaktan, wala po akong masamang intensyon," he said. "Tao lang po ako nagkakamali din po ako."
Earlier, Jones posted a statement on his Twitter account and tagged international media such as the ESPN, CNN, and Sports Illustrated.
He also tagged the NBA and the his college team, Kentucky Basketball.
"As a father & black man this can’t be ignored. It’s unacceptable," Jones tweeted.
"Swift, significant action needs to be taken by the PBA to send a strong message that racism in any form will not be tolerated,” he added. —NB, GMA News